Rising from the Ashes
by Aria Winchester 1
Summary: What if the Dursleys had a daughter? Meet Calla Dursley, Dudley's twin and opposite in every way. When she receives her Hogwarts letter alongside Harry, her world will change forever. Why had her family kept her magic a secret? Can she rise from the ashes of her awful childhood? Rated T for now, eventual Draco/OC.
1. Chapter 1

Petunia had never expected to have twins.

She'd expected to have one, perfect child to dote on, to take care of.

Yet here the doctor was clearly saying that she was having twins. She was going to give birth to twins. She wasn't sure if the idea frightened or delighted her.

-RftA-

 **June 23, 1980**

After the horrible ordeal of giving birth, Petunia demanded that her husband was let in and that her babies were brought to her.

The doctor handed her the newborns as her nervous husband, Vernon, lumbered through the door.

"Oh, Vernon." She called in a soft voice, exhausted beyond belief. "Come hold your son."

She passed the male twin to her walrus-like husband and he looked on with pride. "He's a healthy little grubber, isn't he?" Vernon asked rhetorically, delight shining in his beady eyes. "And the other one?"

"A beautiful baby girl." Petunia looked down at her newborn daughter whose eyes had just opened, and gasped quietly. Her sister's green eyes stared back at her from her newborn daughter's face, though there was enough blue in them that she regained her breath fairly quickly. Blue-green wasn't Lily; her daughter would be nothing like that…woman.

"And what's the little tyke like, Petunia?" Vernon questioned, before looking at his daughter himself. "She's quite a cute little thing, though she's a pinch smaller than my big boy over here. He'll grow up to outdo his dad, he will."

Petunia nodded, feeling a bit tired from the entire ordeal. Technically, those green eyes had been her mother's, so it was more her daughter had inherited an aspect of her grandmother's eyes, while also carrying some blue, just like her twin. It was genetics, nothing more.

"What shall we name 'em, then?" Vernon looked down at his newborn son, thinking of the list of names they'd thought of. "I want my son to be named Dudley. A good, strong name for a growing boy."

Petunia nodded again at her newly christened son, and in a moment of nostalgia, she said, "I'd like our daughter to be named Calla."

Vernon nodded at that, his neck fat bobbing. "That's a strong name too. Has a backbone to it. Let's hope she grows into it, right you little princess?" Vernon mumbled to his crying daughter.

The Dursleys had no idea what fate their darling daughter beheld, or what lives would come to depend on that tiny child.

-RftA-

A year later, the twins were celebrating their first birthday, the two of them surrounded by presents from their family. Dudley was already starting to resemble a pink beach ball, and was notorious for his tantrums. His twin, however, seemed to be a bit more average in body weight for her age, maybe a little scrawnier than normal, and was not one to throw too many tantrums at all. She was a fairly peaceful child, which was a gift for Petunia.

Whenever Petunia remarked on the difference in weight of the twins, Vernon would always have something to say about it.

"That's because Dudders didn't share the food with his sister, did he? He took what he wanted, just like his dad!" Vernon would proudly proclaim to anyone who would listen.

The twins were starting to learn simple words as well, Calla progressing faster than her twin, who had only learnt words such as 'mummy', 'daddy', 'gimme' and 'NO!'

"Here you go, my darlings." Petunia cooed, opening the first presents for each of the children. Dudley got a new teddy bear, which he proceeded to strangle, causing Vernon to guffaw.

Calla's present was exceedingly smaller. It was a ring, simple in style. It had a tiny diamond calla and petunia on it, with the words ' _To the love of my life, Love Mummy'_ engraved on it. It was Petunia's personal present for her daughter. Calla's first piece of jewellery.

"You're much too small for it now," Petunia commented, "so I've bought a chain to put it on until your finger's fit."

She carefully put the necklace around her daughter's neck, trying not to snag Calla's strawberry blonde curls with her necklace. Calla's hair colour had come as a shock to Petunia, as well. It was almost a mix of her own hair and her sister's hair.

Once the necklace was placed around her daughter's neck, Petunia admired her little girl, "Oh, don't you look lovely!"

"Won't she choke on it, Petunia dear?" Vernon questioned.

"I think not. She's bright for her age. My little angel you _never_ put jewellery in her mouth, would you, my love?" Petunia crooned, making her daughter giggle.

The Dursleys continued to open presents, the happy family blissfully unaware of what was to come.

-RftA-

After presents, in which both children were spoiled rotten, the adults decided it was cake time. They carefully took out the homemade strawberry cake and cut small pieces for the one year olds.

"Open your mouth for the choo choo train, Duddeykins!" Petunia called to her son, holding a spoon with a scoop of cake. Dudley decided to be compliant for once and opened his mouth to the cake.

But after being compliant for a few bites, Dudley suddenly whacked the soft food away in a fit. The cake went flying before it landed soundly on Calla's cheek. Calla seemed to be frozen for a moment, then the toddler began emitting a high-pitched wail.

"Oh, my darling, don't worry, we'll get you cleaned up-" Petunia started, but cut off once she saw something that chilled her to the core.

As Calla wailed, a blast of… energy took the food off her face and sent it onto her father as the energy blew out a few lightbulbs as well.

The Dursleys stood frozen for a moment before Vernon stuttered out, "P-Petunia, t-that wasn't, that wasn't what I thought it w-was, right?" his face was changing colours at a rapid pace as his eyes bulged.

Petunia could only look on in horror. Her… sister had done that once before, back when her parents found out what Lily was. But it couldn't be…

Calla giggled, unaware of her parents' terror, and managed to levitate a strawberry to her, nibbling docilely on it.

"Our-our daughter's a-a…" Vernon's face became entirely red with rage. "GET THAT MONSTER OUT OF THIS ROOM!" he roared.

Petunia wailed in grief as Calla began to cry, scared of the loud noises. Petunia picked up her daughter and ran to put her in her crib, far away from Vernon and Dudley. She looked down at her daughter, lying there in her crib, and realized… Calla was like Lily.

Calla was a witch.

 **-RftA-**

 **Hey guys! Here's my new story idea for Harry Potter, one of my all-time favourite book series. I've wanted to write a Draco x OC since forever, but I've never been able to come up with an original plot to write about. The 'Harry has a twin!' angle has been used too often, but I still wanted an OC that was close to Harry… and so Calla Dursleys came to be!**

 **Now, this won't be an instant romance. It will be a serious slow burn, since I refuse to ship two 11 year olds together. Right now I'll be focusing on the relationship between the Dursleys and their now estranged daughter, and the close relationship that Harry and Calla will no doubt share. I do plan on making a tentative friendship bloom between Draco and Call so that it's not too sudden.**

 **I also want Calla to work hard for her place in the wizarding world, though she will no doubt be a very powerful witch in the future. So if you guys have any ideas to run by me, maybe some original scenes you'd like Calla to be in, please let me know. I also want to know if I should do CoS and PoA, or if I should just skip to GoF for more romance after the first book.**

 **I apologize in advance for my rubbish British language and spelling. I'm a Canadian, so it might be a bit difficult sometimes to keep up the British aspects. And I apologize for this awfully long author's note. Please let me know if this is a story you'd like me to continue!**

 **Please favourite, follow, and/or review, and no flames, please. –Aria**

 **I don't own Harry Potter.**

 **Edit:** **So, I redid some aspects of Calla's eyes, as I kind of want to avoid her being too much like Lily, and it will help with the future. The next chapter is coming out today, for those who have been waiting. I'm incredibly sorry it took me this long!**

 **Also, to those reading my Dream a Little Dream story, the next chapter is coming out in a few hours for that as well.**

 **See you all then! -Aria**


	2. Chapter 2: A Family Torn Apart

Calla had been moved into the cupboard under the stairs shortly after her first outburst of magic. Those first few nights alone in the cold, dark cupboard made Calla wail for her mother, who would eventually be driven by her maternal instincts to comfort her young child. However, Vernon quickly put his foot down, and Petunia stopped coming to her aid.

Calla wailed for about a week before realizing, as the surprisingly intelligent little one year old she was, that her mummy wasn't coming to help her, and, eventually, her cries silenced themselves. One day she simply stopped crying and would lie in her dark, little cupboard, imagining she was somewhere else, somewhere better.

-RftA-

Only months after the terrible surprise of Calla's…abilities, the Dursleys received another nasty surprise in the form of their newly orphaned nephew, Harry.

Harry was just as strange as Lily and her husband had been, and as strange as Calla was becoming. So naturally, Vernon wanted Harry out of their home, so as not to corrupt Dudley and further corrupt Calla. However Petunia, in shock over her sister's sudden demise (and after reading the letter that came with the boy), reluctantly pleaded with Vernon to keep Harry.

"The neighbors will no doubt see us with the baby and ask questions." She explained. "They'll look down on us if they find out we put him up for adoption."

However, it was only her final argument that made Vernon keep his nephew.

"If we keep the boy, perhaps we can stamp out the…strangeness, make him normal."

Vernon had taken that to heart. Vernon strived for normality, no matter the cost, and the idea of turning a strange, abnormal child into a normal one was… appealing. The idea filled him with a feeling of victory. He would turn a child back to what they were supposed to be; he was almost doing a public service by taking the boy in. so, he begrudgingly allowed Petunia to keep the one-year-old.

Harry was quickly brought to Calla, since the Dursleys refused to have Harry share a room with Dudley. From the moment Calla met Harry, the Dursleys were displeased to see that they instantly got along.

Harry had been placed in Calla's crib, and after the latter stared curiously at her companion for a moment, she quickly offered him her only toy; a raggedy bunny. Harry accepted her gift with a giggle, and so began their lifelong friendship.

They would spend their nights curled up together in their crib, dreaming peacefully, and their days were spent amusing each other, since the Dursleys would never take notice of them.

And as they grew, Calla and Harry became each other's true family.

 **-RftA-**

 **Hey guys. This… took a long time to update. I struggled to feel motivated about this story, and when I recently decided to get around to updating this, my computer developed a problem with the hard drive. I don't know if it deleted the chapters I'd already been working on, or if they can be recovered, since it's still being looked over by a techie in my neighbourhood, but I didn't want to wait any longer and have decided to just rewrite them on my step-dad's computer. That said, this is a teaser, and the next chapter will be substantially longer. I'm very sorry about the delay, and I am grateful for the support I've received for this story. I've just gotten back from a vacation on Vancouver Island, and since I wanted to put this up as soon as possible, I will respond to reviews in the next chapter.**

 **Thank you again for our patience! - Aria**


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